GC Ch 8

“What does this look like to your eyes?”

“….”

Clamped between Kim Jeongsuk’s index and middle fingers was the fifty thousand won coffee money I had given her. But… mixed in between the banknotes was also the business card given by Kim Sunjin. That Lucky Host Bar business card that Gang Munsu must have received as well.

Oh, Woo Minjo, you utterly luckless bastard. You’d be better off just going and dying.

“I won’t touch the stuff from Hwang Nobyung. Just hand over what this bitch gave you.”

“….”

“Do I have to lock the door for you to listen? Should I thoroughly search all the way up your ass today?”

“….”

Vicious bitch. I’m truly a gentlemanly guy who doesn’t curse at women, but I just can’t stomach Kim Jeongsuk. You filthy loan shark. At my silence, Kim Jeongsuk’s expression crumpled.

“Munsu-ya. Let’s close up business here for today. This motherfucker isn’t going to learn.”

“A-Ah, alright, alright! I’ll give it to you! Stop acting so scary.”

My head shook of its own accord. She always lived with the phrase ‘I can fool a ghost, but you can’t fool me’ on her lips, and today I got caught fair and square. Fearing that if I stubbornly insisted I had nothing until the end, she would really make Gang Munsu search all the way up my ass, I immediately slumped down and took off my shoes. Snatching the wad of cash hidden in my socks, Kim Jeongsuk clicked her tongue in disgust.

“Not even the ass, what’s with the soles of your feet? How dirty.”

Fuck, is an ass that poops not dirty?

My stomach churned with bitterness. If I had known I’d be stripped of it so vainly, I should have somehow refused Boss Chu’s tip and left without it. Rather than having it taken by Kim Jeongsuk, that would have been better. Not that I’d ever go back—no, even if I end up going again, I will never accept a tip again.

“Wow, you received a hell of a lot?”

When a large sum of money amounting to 450,000 won was handed over, Kim Jeongsuk’s smile stretched from ear to ear. Licking her fingers to count the money, Kim Jeongsuk was joined by Gang Munsu.

“How much is all of it?”

“Four hundred and fifty.”

“Fuck, she only gave me a hundred thousand won, but she showered this kid with cash. What’s with the discrimination? Hey! Did she ask to sleep with you, too?”

Gang Munsu nudged me repeatedly as I brushed off the soles of my feet and put my socks back on. I raised my head to look up at him.

“She didn’t say anything like that, and giving me a hundred thousand won as a tip was all.”

“Then what’s the rest?”

“Fifty thousand won from Hwang Nobyung. The rest is from Boss Chu.”

“Boss Chu?”

The last remark came from Kim Jeongsuk. Kim Jeongsuk looked down at me with a startled face.

“Boss Chu gave it to you?”

…I shouldn’t have mentioned it. That expression she wore when offering prostitution popped up again. Her gloomy smile made it look like she was going to assign all future Gimun deliveries to me. Gang Munsu, who snatched a hundred-thousand-won check right out of Kim Jeongsuk’s hand, snickered and said:

“Didn’t I tell you? That guy is going to fall for him hard.”

“Do you know how to read people a bit? You could see that in your eyes?”

“Yeah. My mom is a shaman, so I’ve got a bit of that talent, too. But Noona. Isn’t this kid the first one Boss Chu ever gave a tip to?”

“That’s why I’m surprised.”

Kim Jeongsuk then muttered while staring intently at the check, “Geez, all kinds of strange things happen.” Gang Munsu said, “What’s so strange about it,” and bent down to reach his hand toward me. Bracing myself thinking he would hit me, he only tapped my cheek lightly. His hand reeked strongly of cigarettes. Along with the stench of urine, as if he hadn’t washed after taking a piss.

“This kid’s fate is just like that. Minjo, you’re fated to live a long life only if you eat men’s dicks to survive. You know that?”

“….”

“Don’t be like that, and why don’t you go watch a movie with me this time? You gotta try things out to improve, right? Noona, it’s fine to let him off work, right?”

“…Fuck off, shithead. Who do you think you’re talking to, ugh—!”

The moment I spat out those words, I saw stars before my eyes. The bad-tempered Gang Munsu had slapped my cheek. My cheek grew hot as if set on fire. Gang Munsu shook my hair with a force that felt like he was going to tear it out.

“Didn’t I tell you not to act up? Do you really want to fucking die?”

“That’s enough, stop it. Even I would throw a fit if my money got taken. It’s not just a penny or two.”

Kim Jeongsuk clicked her tongue and pulled Gang Munsu back. Being pulled away submissively, Gang Munsu issued a warning to me until the end.

“Don’t run your mouth recklessly. You might really end up dying like that. Got it?”

My lip throbbed, feeling as though it had split. Just how long do I have to deal with this bullshit? At this point, I couldn’t even let out a sigh.

“Here. The stuff from Hwang Nobyung.”

Kim Jeongsuk threw the fifty thousand won given by Hwang Nobyung onto my leg. Like giving alms to a beggar.

“Do it properly, don’t try to deceive and eat it up. Next time I won’t let it slide. Got it?”

“Yeee-es.”

Answering half-heartedly, I crumpled the money in my hand. My life was originally like this, so it wasn’t even pathetic. Only my slapped cheek hurt. Sweeping my tongue over my split lip, I put on the rest of my socks. Still, perhaps because I was covered in human skin and looked pitiable to her, Kim Jeongsuk tidied my disheveled hair and spoke:

“Get up, put on your clothes, and eat some food. We’re calling it a day here today. But why are you so skinny? This won’t do, Sister! You know that meat you marinated over there? Fry that up nicely!”

Come to think of it. If she had a child, he would be about my age. Though we’ve become a bad match now, when I was very young, we were on terms where we shared joys and sorrows during tough times and supported each other. She was a warm person who took the risk of looking after my mother when she ran away from my drunk father. Thinking about it that way, the most wicked person wasn’t Kim Jeongsuk, but my mother who stole other people’s money and ran off. Having been burned not just once or twice but multiple times, she had no choice but to turn into a vicious loan shark.

“You’re going to suffer a lot in the future, so you should at least eat well. They say people nowadays don’t really like skinny ones. Make sure to eat two bowls of rice starting today. Still, there needs to be something to grab onto—what the hell is that, what is it.”

A laugh came out. Pitying me, huh? It’s not like she’s the Kim Jeongsuk from back then.

Be that as it may, listening to what she was saying, it seemed she really intended to run me ragged as a regie.

∞ ∞ ∞

Sitting in the corner of the hall and shoveling food down my throat, Gang Munsu opened the shop door and walked in, laughing excitedly. Seeing me, he muttered, “What a fucking mind-boggling kid.” Kim Jeongsuk, who was puffing hard on a cigarette across from me, asked Gang Munsu as he swaggered over:

“Who?”

“This kid.”

“Why.”

“I found out the reason why that guy fell for him.”

Gang Munsu flopped down next to Kim Jeongsuk. Pouring a glass of water and chugging it down hastily, he licked his lips with his tongue and smirked.

“This motherfucker went into Boss Chu’s room wearing high heels, he says. Intentionally to seduce him.”

“Wore what?”

“High heels. One of the kids down there is my middle school classmate. He told me. Asking if our coffee shop car-man is a transgender.”

I tried to pretend not to hear until the end, but they wouldn’t leave me alone at all. Setting down the spoon I was holding, I glared at the two who were giggling and laughing in front of my eyes. Gang Munsu rested both hands on the table, stood up, and bent his waist toward me. The guy wore a filthy smile all over his face.

“What. Did your bottom get turned on after hearing his dick is huge? Did you feel like you had to taste it once, too?”

“….”

“So, how was it when you actually saw it? I heard he was fucking when you walked in? Was your hole throbbing and twitching over there?”

“…You better stop. My mouth feels like it’s going to run wrong again.”

At my words, Gang Munsu, whom I thought would flip the dining table over, surprisingly did nothing more than laugh. Fucking bastard…. Muttering like that, he sat back down in his seat and pulled out a cigarette to clamp in his mouth. Kim Jeongsuk held up a lighter to the guy old enough to be her son and lit it for him. Gang Munsu, taking a deep drag from the filter and exhaling smoke violently, let out another unpleasantly filthy laugh.

“Well, there’ll probably be a day he gets to taste it. Since he wants something too, isn’t that why he gave such a big tip?”

“….”

In an instant, the image of Boss Chu stroking my ankle overlapped onto Gang Munsu’s face. The swallowed meat felt stuck in my pit of stomach, fluttering and wriggling around.

“Anyway, I’m planning to assign Gimun to Minjo starting tomorrow. What’s the point of leaving him alone? I gotta use him one way or another to get the interest out of him. The bitch of a mother doesn’t even show her face, not knowing if she’s dead or alive.”

Kim Jeongsuk said to Gang Munsu while snuffing out her cigarette. At those words, Gang Munsu knitted his brows slightly.

“Even so, don’t send him too often. If he falls for him for real, it’s gonna be a headache.”

“No matter what you say, he’s a guy—how far could it really go? He’ll just fondle him a few times and stop.”

“Man, Noona, you’re naive. That kid over there has hairless, white skin down there, doesn’t he?”

I gripped the neatly set down spoon again. My hands trembled wildly. If this had been a knife, Kim Jeongsuk and Gang Munsu would have already died by my hand.

“That stuff about having bad luck for 3 years after eating a hairless one is bullshit, and I’ll bet my wrist that the moment Boss Chu sees his, his eyes will go completely nuts. Wanna bet with me?”